AFV News from Around the Web

Here is another assortment of recent news articles on armored vehices.  Click on the headline to go to the complete piece.

The Nation – Chinese tanks arrive ahead of schedule

Twenty-eight VT4 battle tanks from China have been delivered to Thailand six months ahead of schedule because of competition on China’s side, Army Commander in Chief General Chalermchai Sittisart said on Wednesday.  He did not give further details and denied rumours that the tanks were old and had been left in storage in China. “The tanks are in good condition. Their delivery is about six months ahead of the scheduled period of March next year because of business competition. We will let the media visit them when the required processes is complete,” he said.

NextBigFuture.com – Russian Armata production falters – shift to upgrading old tanks

The Russian Armata program, a universal chassis system that is intended to be the foundational element for Russia’s future armor force and includes the third-generation T-14 main battle tank (MBT), could be in danger of being cancelled, following recent announcements to upgrade T-80 and T-90 series main battle tanks (MBTs) in addition to revising plans to melt down 10,000 armored vehicles by 2020.

The National Interest – Would North Korea Use Old World War II Tanks to Fight America in a War?

While the T-34/85 medium tank might be have been instrumental in the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany’s Wehrmacht in World War Two, the vintage war machine is probably still in service in North Korea.  The Soviet Union delivered some 250 T-34/85s to the nascent Democratic People’s Republic of Korea before March 1950. The Soviets delivered more of the tanks later over the course of the Korean War. The North Koreans lost many T-34/85s during the war as it became very apparently that the American M26 Pershing, M46 Patton and the British Centurion grossly outclassed the long-serving Soviet-built tank.

Hindustan Times – China displays photo of newly inducted light battle tank for the first time

China has inducted its much- publicised light battle tank, introduced in Tibet during the height of the Doklam standoff with India, and for the first time the Army displayed its photo at a military exhibition here, a media report said on Wednesday.  Developed by the China North Industries Group Corp, the country’s biggest maker of land armaments, the light tank, whose weight ranges from 25 to 35 metric tonnes, is equipped with a hydropneumatic suspension system that ensures good manoeuvrability and survivability in mountainous regions.

Jane’s 360 – Two new, more heavily armed Stryker variants heading to Europe

The US Army’s first 30 mm Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle – Dragoon, along with the first Stryker with CROWS-Javelin (CROWS-J), will go to Europe in December for an operational test, officials said during the Association of the US Army’s (AUSA’s) annual conference.  Army leaders are calling the 30 mm-armed vehicle the ‘Dragoon’ and assigned it as the XM1296.